Poet Amanda Gorman to be on two Vogue covers

Amanda Gorman caught the attention of many Americans when she stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and recited “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Social media commented nearly as much on her style — she wore a yellow Prada coat — as it did her poem. Next month, Gorman will be featured on two covers of the magazine synonymous with style — Vogue.

Both covers were shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz and styled by Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. On one, the national youth poet laureate is wearing Dior Haute Couture; the other shows her in a Louis Vuitton Kente gown designed by Virgil Abloh, who is of Ghanian descent.

“A moment of crystal clarity — of embracing all that is so beautiful about us, of rejecting the constant policing of how we black womxn show up in the world. For ALL of us, throughout the diaspora, who feel a true cultural unity through the Pan African movement and who cherish the inherent style and grace and elegance of the Black womxn. For the love of fashion! Words can scarcely describe how I feel about this cover,” Karefa-Johnson wrote in an Instagram post.

“Oh, how widely my Sierra Leonean grandfather, my grandmother, and all of my ancestors must be smiling. How chuffed they would be to see a symbol of our heritage celebrated in this way — how astounded they would be by a young black woman so graciously and confidently commanding the world stage as Amanda has — so beautiful and so powerful and so emblematic of a better future,” she continued.

Karefa-Johnson was once an intern in the Vogue fashion closet and was the first Black woman to style a cover for the magazine.

The youngest poet ever to participate in a presidential inauguration, Gorman has been featured on the cover of Time magazine and brought poetry to the Super Bowl in February.